


birds of a feather

by nishiki



Series: Kliego Moments [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bullying, Denial of Feelings, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Diego doesn't know how to cope, Feelings, Feelings Realization, First Crush, First Kiss, First Love, Horny Teenagers, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Idiots in Love, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Klaus gets in trouble, M/M, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Puberty, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Sort Of, Teenagers, and Diego helps him, ben is so done, but not really, fragile masculinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25572415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: "I wished he would get it! I mean, what can I do to make him get it? Should I … I dunno … faint a lot around him like those Victorian ladies? I could learn how to faint real elegantly." - In which Klaus has a huge crush on Diego who treats him like crap and in which Ben is just done with those two morons.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Kliego Moments [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818838
Kudos: 218
Collections: The umbrella academy





	birds of a feather

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to re-upload this after I took it down. I just wasn't happy how it turned out, so I changed and added a few things especially at the end.

They were birds of a feather. Joined at the hips. Best friends. Partners in crime. It had always been like this from the moment they had first known each other and played together in the playroom. They had been inseparable. Number Two and Number Four, Diego and Klaus. Everyone had known that. With their mischievous minds, they had been a force to be reckoned with, feared by many. No matter how silly his ideas had been, Diego had been there to help him go through with it regardless - ready to follow him to Hell and back. 

That was until two months ago, as Diego had suddenly started acting strange towards him. At first, he had barely noticed any change in the behavior of his brother but then it had hit him square in the face. It had been a completely normal morning until Klaus had turned to Diego with a conspiratorial grin only to be faced with a cold shoulder as Diego had turned away and ignored him. Like this, it had continued for a while. Diego had ignored him for days on end no matter what Klaus had tried that would usually make Diego laugh or frown or react in any way. Suddenly, Klaus was invisible to his brother, not even worth being annoyed at. 

Even at night, when he couldn't sleep and wanted to seek comfort in his brother’s bed, Diego had pretended to be asleep and not lifted his blanket for Klaus like he had done hundreds of times before. His brother had grown cold towards him in a matter of days and Klaus had no idea why. He only knew the sting he felt in his chest every time Diego would turn away from him.

However, being ignored was much better than what followed the initial phase of his brother pretending like he wouldn't exist. It started during training, as their father pitted them against each other. Usually, Klaus loved to spar with Diego because his brother would always be a bit more lenient with him than the others. Luther would just throw him across the room or use him as a dumbbell if he would get bored. Allison was just plain mean and wouldn't shy away from scratching or biting. Ben, he felt sorry for because his brother was afraid to hurt anyone and thus always lost during training - even to someone like Klaus. On that day, however, Diego had not been soft on him. He had kicked him so hard that Klaus had bruises even a week later. And while Diego was smiling under his father’s praise, Klaus’ heart had ached.

"He hates me," Klaus muttered quietly as he and Ben sat in the attic and passed the joint he had lit a few minutes ago between them. Weed would always help him to calm down and it had the same effect on Ben too. 

Poor Ben. He was always so torn about what he wanted to do, always scared to lose control over the Horror in the same vein as Klaus was afraid of the souls of the dead all around him. These days, his brother looked more tired than usual, as if it was taking him extra the amount of effort of keeping the Horror in check. Sometimes Klaus busied his mind with the sick questions of how much longer it would take until his brother would lose control and be devoured by the Eldritch monstrosities - or until one of them would get killed by it. He never talked to Ben about it, of course. He didn't want to see him hurt or sad. Klaus knew though that he couldn't be the only one in this family asking that question in silence. 

"Why would he hate you?" Ben sighed and leaned his head back, the roll of his eyes clearly implied in his words. He had the air of a long-suffering parent even with sixteen. 

"He’s mean to me."

"He’s Diego." Ben scoffed. "Diego is mean to everyone."

"Not to me." 

"No, because he’s in love with you."

Klaus breathed out an agonized sigh at that and flopped on his back dramatically. "I wish!" He exclaimed to the Gods and the Stars and whatever cosmic entity might hear him. "I mean, have you seen Diego lately?"

"Yes…" Ben replied. "Sadly, I have. This morning he shoved twenty pancakes at once in his mouth. The syrup got everywhere." 

"No, you don't get it!" Klaus lamented. "Have you actually  _ looked  _ at Diego? He’s …  _ hot _ ! Ben,  _ he’s hot _ ! Puberty hit him with a train! He finally grew into his weird ears too! He’s no longer Dumbo-Diego! Who knew he would turn out so hot?" 

"Come to think about it, he’s probably mean to you because he can smell your crush on him from miles away and is scared you might jump him."

"Diego? Pfft. Diego wouldn't notice it if I would hold up a sign or print it in the newspaper!" He sighed again. "I wished he would get it! I mean, what can I do to make him get it? Should I … I dunno … faint a lot around him like those Victorian ladies? I could learn how to faint real elegantly."

"Chances are high that you would only succeed in breaking your neck trying to faint elegantly." Ben chuckled but his voice sounded exhausted. "Let me assure you … he knows and even if he doesn't know … he’s in fucking love with you."

"No, stop giving me hope you  _ monster!  _ It’s not nice to give a dying man hope!"

"I’m telling you! Diego is the kind of idiot who would have pulled your pigtails when we were four to show you that he likes you."

"Nah … Dee would never see me like this…" 

"You are both just beyond stupid." Ben groaned as he got to his feet and handed him back his joint. "You better hurry, Dad expects us downstairs for training in ten minutes and you still need to change." 

He hummed in response before he took another hit of the joint and watched Ben walk out of the room. Of course, Klaus was in no hurry to finish his joint or join his siblings for their daily torture session. In this room in the far corner of the attic, Klaus, Diego, and Ben usually hung out to smoke weed, drink the beers they managed to get their hands on, and read comics. The room felt colder without Diego here. He had not hung out with Diego for two months now. He hadn't spent any private time with Diego for two months now because Diego preferred avoiding him like the plague and when he couldn't avoid him he was shoving him, picking on him, kicking him, or hitting him - Well, whenever he was not spitting insults at him, that was.

The insults, perhaps, were even worse than the kicks or the punches Diego would throw his way during training. Diego, who knew him better than anyone else, knew exactly where to aim his words at to make them a nearly deadly projectile. Nothing hurt more than being called a ‘fag’ or a ‘fairy’ by the one person he trusted the most. Nothing hurt more than when Diego would mock him or would call him disgusting. Every time Diego would say something to him, he just wanted to curl up under his blanket and bawl his eyes out - and Diego knew that and still aimed at his weak spots. 

Klaus reached the gym fashionably late as always much to his father’s disdain. Sometimes he found himself wondering just why his father still reacted with anger towards him when he would turn up late. By now, Klaus thought, he should be used to it and not expect anything else, really. Maybe that was the weed talking. He always felt  _ zen  _ when he was on weed - like nothing mattered, not even the dark looks of his siblings or the insults Diego would hurl at him. And, wasn’t that just masochistic? To still love Diego despite the horrible things he would do to Klaus? 

"Number Four" His father droned without even looking up from his notes as he entered and took his position between Ben and Allison. It were moments like this when he realized how much he missed Five. Five who used to be as much opposed to rules and authority as he was. Sure, Diego was a rebel too but he was still trying desperately to please their father. "Late as always. I cannot shake the illusion that one day you might learn not only to read a clock properly but also to arrive in time for your lessons or your training. You will spar with Number Two in the boxing ring, today. Maybe that will get your head back in the game. You’ve been slacking off even more than usual." 

"The boxing ring?" Klaus moaned as silent dread washed over him. Being pitted against Diego was bad enough as it was already lately but being forced in the boxing ring opposite of Diego was like signing his death sentence. "But Dad you know I can’t match him in the ring!" 

"Then you better start training now, Number Four!" His father said mercilessly. "Otherwise, you will never be able to hold your own against one of your siblings or anyone else for that matter. Your weakness might be the cause of harm for your siblings if you continue on like this! You are a liability to your team!" 

The words stung, of course. Already he was always only the lookout during missions because he just wasn’t much of a fighter and had not a single useful power to his name either. Luther had often told him that his weakness might one day get one of them killed. But now that he didn't have Diego anymore who would glance over at him in sympathy and silent comfort, the words of his father hurt more than they had any right to. He nodded at last and his other siblings left formation to start their own training.

"Would you come already?" Diego growled as he was already climbing into the ring. "I don't have all day and unlike you, stoner boy, I actually want to get better! Bad enough I’m paired up with someone who can barely stand on his own two feet." 

"Wow! Tell me how you really feel!" Klaus mocked as he climbed in the ring after him even though he struggled a bit doing it. He absolutely hated boxing and the fact that their dad didn’t even give them gloves. In Reggie’s eyes, it would amp up the ante if they went in with naked fists. Diego ground his teeth at that and already took his stance in front of him.

"How I really feel?" Diego said and made the first punch that almost hit him square in the face. Weed always made him a little slow and sluggish on his feet. "If you would stop sneaking out at night and partying and hooking up with random strangers, maybe then you would be good for something! Maybe if you would stop whoring yourself out, you wouldn't be such a waste of fucking space!" 

Diego’s words stung more than the punch that hit him right in the face. He stumbled backward and hit the ropes, blood gushing from his split lips. Diego had never hit him in the face before. However, Klaus had no time to deal with the surprise, or the shock as Diego followed up his attack with another punch that Klaus barely dodged.

"Number Four!" Reginald barked from the sidelines where he was taking notes - his trusted assistant Vanya by his side as always. "Stop dancing around and focus!" 

"What's wrong with you?" Klaus hissed at his brother as he blocked his next punch hit his forearms. It hurt like a bitch and would surely leave marks. "You are behaving like a complete asshole!"

"I behave like a complete asshole?" Diego hissed back. "At least I’m not the one behaving like a complete fucking slut! Just because I want to become better and stronger doesn’t mean I’m an asshole! I just woke up and finally realized what a weak idiot you are!" 

Diego's next punch startled him so much that he stumbled and fell on his ass. "Look at you! Pathetic." 

Diego looked down at him with dark eyes before he shook his head and went climbing out of the ring again to go use the exercise machines instead - probably to build even more muscle strength to bully Klaus with. Klaus felt, quite frankly, humiliated as he lay there. His eyes suddenly burned quite badly and as Reginald called out to him again, he got up, climbed out of the ring, and hurried out of the room even as Reginald kept yelling his name. Diego had never made him feel like this before ad right now he just wanted to hide somewhere and allow himself to wallow in his heartache. 

※※※※※※※

The club was filled with colorful light and people and music and Klaus felt at home as he was shifting with the beat. Alcohol and ecstasy were pulsating through his veins and the voices of the dead were silent at last. Silent, silent, silent. The people around him were passionately alive and so beautiful that he lost himself in the ocean of bodies that were moving as one to the music blaring from the speakers all around the abandoned warehouse. It had been pure coincidence that he had heard about this rave going on near the docks tonight. He had escaped the house after the incident in the gym and after he had changed his uniform against his secret party clothes that he was always hiding in the far back of his closet because Reginald would burn them if he would find them. 

After that, he had walked around the city for hours, meeting up with some acquaintances around town, hitting up his dealer, and then found out about the rave from some girl he would sometimes meet at parties. He shouldn't be here. Sure, he loved going to nightclubs and bars and house parties. But raves … anything could happen during a rave. Most people here were drunk or on drugs - or both. People might recognize him, the press might recognize him. 

Fuck, as if he would fucking care. Right now he didn't care about anything! Not even about how much Diego had hurt him today. He had suffered through seemingly endless weeks of bullying from his best friend, thinking that Diego would turn around at one point, laugh in his face and tell him that it had been a joke. Today things had been different, a tie had been severed, a bridge destroyed. Diego hated him. The one person Klaus loved more than himself, hated him. 

He noticed a guy near the makeshift bar who stared at him. He was attractive; tall, with sun-kissed skin and dark hair - reminding Klaus entirely too much of Diego. Diego who seemed so far away these days, who seemed so unreachable to him. Hell, even if Diego wouldn't be behaving like a total douchenozzle right now, he wouldn't be willing to risk anything in trying to get in his pants. Diego would never see him like this, no matter what Ben would claim. He would never see him like this. To Diego, he would never be something else but his annoying little brother who Diego needed to protect.

Maybe Diego was right in hating him. Maybe he had realized how Klaus felt towards him and was left being disgusted by it. He should be disgusted. And Klaus … He deserved his hate.

Klaus smiled as the man, lifted his glass at him in a silent greeting, and he didn't leave as he was approached by him either. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest, his stomach a nervous knot. He might be telling these outrageous hookup-stories to his siblings but the truth was that he had never dared to follow another guy anywhere. Right now, however, he wanted to. He wasn’t Diego but he looked similar enough for Klaus to indulge this fantasy.

The stranger bought him a drink and led Klaus away from the crowd and not once Klaus thought anything about it. The guy was all smiles and deep, sinful voice. He knew exactly what to say to Klaus too to make his knees go weak. 

As they left the rave together, the cold air of the night hit him square in the face and made him feel dizzy so that he stumbled against the stranger. The man caught him and Klaus giggled against his mouth as the stranger smashed their lips together. Right then, as the man dragged him towards his car, he started to feel funny, though. He started feeling sluggish and uncoordinated. Up was down and down was up and nothing seemed to make sense to him anymore.

"I think I’m having a bad trip…" He slurred more to himself than the stranger.

"You’re fine, Baby." The man replied. "And I’m gonna make you feel even better." 

"No … Something’s wrong…"

Had he been roofied? Had he taken too much? He wanted to tell the stranger ‘no’ once more but then his knees gave in and the world turned dark all at once.

※※※※※※※

As Klaus Hargreeves startled awake he was in his bedroom. He recognized the walls he had scribbled the messages of the dead onto in the dim glow of his fairy lights. For a minute, he was certain that he had only dreamt everything that happened yesterday. The fight with Diego, the rave, overdosing - or whatever else had happened to him. Then, however, he realized that he was still wearing his leather pants and his crop top and that it was still dark outside. He wasn’t alone. That realization finally made him jolt upright in bed.

"Relax," A familiar voice said calmly. "It's just me." 

"Diego?" He whispered into the half-light of the room as if he was afraid that, would he be too loud, the other young man would vanish into thin air like a phantom. The silhouette of his adopted brother by the foot of his bed took shape slowly, as his eyes were burning and desperately trying to adjust to being open and seeing again. The last thing he remembered was being in this parking lot with that handsome guy who looked just enough like Diego to get him interested. Fear and shame both gripped him tightly at the thought that he had been about to throw away his virginity like this out of frustration because he would never get what he wanted.

"Who else would be running around in the dead of night to safe your sorry ass from being raped by some shady asshole?" Diego’s words were unnecessarily sharp - then again, maybe the situation warranted such a sharpness. He knew that it was true, after all. Even if his memory was a bit blurry now, he knew that this guy had put something in his drink. 

"What?" His tongue was very heavy in his mouth and he was barely able to talk at all. He could see Diego clearer now how he sat on his bed, right by his feet - just like he used to when they would hang out. It seemed aged ago that they had hung out like friends or brothers. It had only been a few months and yet it felt like a lifetime. He was still wearing his green tracksuit. Had he been running around the city right after training? Dad would be pissed in the morning.

"I tried to find you," Diego said with a glare directed at Klaus. Although the angry look in Diego’s eyes made him flinch like he had been slapped, he noticed something else in those dark eyes too - something hidden just beneath the surface that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Worry, perhaps? "I ran around like an idiot the entire day!" 

"Well, I didn't ask you!" He hissed back even though he didn't mean to get pissy. Well, he had been roofied just hours ago and possibly escaped being raped in the back of a car by a hairbreadth and only thanks to the presence of his brother. He imagined Diego finding him in that parking lot, hanging off the side of this guy, possibly already knocked out from the drug. If Diego had found him like this, there was a good chance that this guy was currently treated in some shady hospital - at least he would bet his meager possessions on it if things would still be like they used to be between Two and Four. 

"You should be glad I did!" Diego shot back aggressively. "Otherwise, that creep would probably be dismembering you right now! You are such a fucking idiot sometimes! When I found you, he already had you in his fucking car and was all over you!" 

"Yeah?" He gasped and decided to swallow down the sudden nausea welling up inside of him at that mental image. "Well, so are you! You are the biggest asshole in town! Treating me like complete garbage for months and now you want to be all protective? Nah! Fuck you, Diego!" 

Suddenly, Diego lurched forward and he was almost certain that Number Two would actually strangle him - instead, however, he felt Diego’s lips against his, their teeth hitting together almost painfully. He was completely in shock at first, so startled that he didn't know what to do, that he didn't blink, that he didn't breathe, and didn't even react until Diego suddenly - probably self-conscious by Klaus’ lack of participation - pulled back.

Klaus reacted quickly as he grabbed him by the neck and held him in place before he sunk back into his pillows, dragging Diego with him until the other boy was on top of him. Diego’s weight was like a blanket. He was warm and firm and he never wanted him to be anywhere but his bed. As he finally managed to kiss Diego back, moving their lips together, he felt like fainting - and not elegantly so. A thousand lightning bolts shot through him, electricity surging through his veins. He was hot and cold all at once, his fingertips tingling. His stomach was doing somersaults and he felt a little bit like vomiting - in a good way, though. He was kissing Diego. And the kiss was not rough and hard and all tongue and teeth as he would have expected - it was sweet and gentle and soft and he felt like melting into a gross puddle on the ground. 

Maybe he should be angry for the way Diego had treated him those past couple of months or how he had actually hurt Klaus today during training - right now, however, none of that mattered, because he was in Diego’s arms and could feel his weight on top of him. He had always had a problem with forgiving people too quickly. He knew that. Ben once told him that he was like a doormat, allowing the others to walk all over him. It was more important to him to be loved by his family - to be loved by Diego in particular. 

When they ran out of air, they pulled away just enough to breathe but remaining close enough that he could feel Diego’s breath ghosting over his face. They remained silent for a second or two, shocked and surprised and confused by what they had just done, before Klaus breathed out a small chuckle. A part of him, however, was absolutely horrified and anxious and afraid that Diego would freak out on him, that he might even punch him again. 

"What was that about?” He dared to ask quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. Briefly, he thought about the camera in his room, right above his door, the silver eye that could see everything that they were trying to hide in the semi-darkness of Klaus’ bedroom. “First … you are mean to me and now … You said horrible things about me … about me being gay..."

"I’m sorry…" Diego whispered looking down. Even in the dim light of his fairy lights, he looked sheepish. "I didn't … I didn't know … What to do. I … I just … I was so overwhelmed and I started panicking…"

"Overwhelmed?" He echoed by voicing his confusion. It was weird to have this conversation while Diego was still pretty much lying on top of him. It felt good, though. He fitted right between his legs and he didn't feel threatened by the way Diego looked down on him or by knowing that he would never be able to defend himself from him. Why would he need to do that anyway? Diego would never hurt him - not in that way, right? There were so many confusing thoughts all smashing down on him like hailstones during a storm. "By what?"

" _ You! _ " Diego exclaimed as he sat back on his heels again and pointed sharply at his face as if it would explain everything. "One day you were just regular old Klaus and then  _ BOOM!  _ I just … I started to get so fucking angry when I heard you talk to Allison about guys and your experiences with them in nightclubs. I was pissed! And I thought … I thought that I was disgusted with you for being so open about it and for being interested in guys. It wasn’t normal, I thought.” 

Suddenly, it became very apparent, that a dam had broken and now that Diego had started talking, there was no way he was going to stop again. Everything that he had held in for so long came pouring out of him. 

“And suddenly I was uncomfortable around you because of it. And then I … I was pissed because I couldn't understand why you would throw yourself away like this, you know? I didn't understand why you would go to a club and allow just some random stranger to touch you in that way. No one seemed good enough to touch you. That’s when I realized that I … that I was just pissed because it wasn’t me who was touching you like this … It wasn’t me who got to kiss you. And when I understood that, I … I was so afraid you would notice and that you would think I’m a freak for … liking you like this."

"Oh" He breathed out quietly. Diego’s face was a weird mixture of anger and jealousy and fear as he sat on Klaus’ bed, looking everywhere but at him. He could see his hands twisting in the fabric of his green jacket and felt the nervous energy radiating from him in waves. He could tell that Diego was about to jump up and just run out. Diego had never liked being so vulnerable.

Slowly, Klaus sat up again and reached out to touch Diego’s face carefully. Number Two actually flinched a little as Klaus’ fingers touched his cheek as if burned. He got it, though. Diego was such a fucking macho all the time and since childhood, he had always acted tough and manly, as if he really thought that this was how a man ought to behave. With Klaus around being the polar opposite, being soft and gentle and kind, they had offered a stark contrast of what it meant being a man - being a human being. 

He had always known that Diego was soft and kind and loving and gentle too and it had irked him that he would bury all this under this false bravado that seemed to have been the only thing that had given Diego any sense of self-worth. To Diego, it must have been absolutely horrifying that he liked Klaus in such a way because it meant, in his eyes, that he was not as manly and macho as he liked to think that he was. He had probably seen it as being weak - just one more reason why he was not good enough in the eyes of their father, just one more reason why he was Number Two, just one more reason why he was a fuck-up. 

As Diego finally turned his face towards him at the gentle touch, Klaus leaned in again to steal another kiss from those plump lips. His heart was racing in his chest as he did and found no resistance. 

"You are such a fucking moron." He whispered against his lips as he pulled away again. Diego breathed out a snort at his words before he wrapped those strong arms around Klaus in response and buried his face in the crook of his neck. And if Klaus felt tears on his skin, he wouldn't ever dare mention it to anyone. 

Maybe he shouldn't be forgiving Diego so easily. But he was Diego. The one person Klaus loved more than himself. His safe haven in a sea of corpses and nightmarish ghouls. And, luckily, he was just as much of an idiot as Klaus was.


End file.
